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Mum loses 7st in one year after needing seat belt extender on flight

Laura Hampson
·4-min read
Adele Thornton saw a 7st weight loss in 14 months. (SWNS)
Adele Thornton saw a 7st weight loss in 14 months. (SWNS)

A woman saw a 7st weight loss after feeling ‘mortified’ about needing a seat belt extender while on holiday.

Adele Thornton, 40, says she and her family were heading to Rome, Italy when she wasn’t able to do up her seat belt on the flight.

After returning home, Thornton decided that enough was enough and she made a lifestyle change by ditching takeaways and meal deals in favour of home cooked fare.

"I went to Rome and just couldn't fasten my seat belt so I had to ask the flight attendants for an extension line," she explains.

"It was just mortifying – it was a horrible experience and my younger daughter was asking why my seat belt was a different colour. It was embarrassing, I just knew I had to do something about it when I got home. I knew I was going on holiday to Mexico in the following year and that I had to get the weight off."

She has now dropped 7st in just 14 months, weighing 11st and going from a size 22 to a size 10.

Adele has slimmed down from a size 22 to a size 10. (SWNS)
Adele has slimmed down from a size 22 to a size 10. (SWNS)

"I can't believe how much weight I've lost,” she says. “My 16-year-old daughter is horrified that people are saying I look like her now I've lost all the weight.

"It has thrown me back to feeling a lot younger and a lot healthier. I also look a lot better and now I've been able to do lots more when it comes to my fitness."

She adds that the weight loss has given her a ‘new lease on life’ and she’s now able to take part in activities she wasn’t able to do before due to her size – which is why she’s recently climbed Mount Snowdon and gone on the world's fastest zip line, the latter which comes with a weight restriction.

"For my 40th birthday, I was given the chance to do a zip line in Wales which is the fastest in the world," she explains.

"I had seen it on social media before and there was a weight restriction on it and I was too heavy, so I wouldn't have been able to do that. It was quite cool but it's horrifying so it made me conquer my fear of heights."

Thornton, from Huddlesfield, initially lost 5st in 2019, but put the weight back on during lockdown after indulging in cheese boards.

She joined her local Slimming World group just days after arriving back in the UK from Rome, which is where she learned to make simple lifestyle swaps – along with cutting out cheese and making food from scratch.

Adele recently ran the London Marathon. (SWNS)
Adele recently ran the London Marathon. (SWNS)

"Cheese boards are my absolute nemisis – I absolutely love cheese and wine and beige foods always has to come with it," she explains.

"During Covid, I would often spend time on online Kahoot quizzes or I would play Bingo with my family over Zoom. I would just have sausage rolls and scotch eggs, snacky foods are just so easy to have to hand instead of having a proper meal."

Now, Thornton says her family have gone ‘back to basics’ instead of eating processed and pre-packaged foods. She also started running and recently completed the London Marathon with a time of five hours and 55 minutes.

"I felt amazing – I don't think anything can prepare you for the emotions," she adds. "I just felt so proud of myself but just not because I had lost the weight to be able to run.

"The marathon itself is such a big challenge and I ran every single step of it - I didn't walk or stop or anything. I was massively proud of myself and was just crying like a big baby."

Additional reporting by SWNS.